It's not like companies don't get around this stuff all the time. It just takes a little more effort. You need to have a double blind. Basically doing the same thing that Compaq did with IBM's BIOS on the PC.
The first part is person to write a spec. This spec. should detail how you want something to work. "When the client does X the server should respond with Y". Etc. etc.
This person will have no other role. This person should not be associated with the developement of the MS extentions. Nor should he know any of the people who will be working on this.
His work should be handed to a third party who will deliver his spec to the developement team. Reverse engineering shall begin. It's a pain to do, but it is workable.
At any case there should be a nice stink made about this. I suggest that anyone who is a microsoft support customer contact your TAM or GTAM and let them know that this stinks.
I heard a several years ago that you had a x-mas book that was pulled because the Church or England threatened to sue the publisher for blasphemy. Apparently there is still a law on the books that allows for that. Is this true?
The problem with the UK empeg is that it's produced in the UK. It's not quality or anything like that it's price. I've been there, I've purchased there, and even without VAT the costs are higher. The software isn't the problem. It's putting it all together. In the US you could have the parts come in from Singapore and Japan and have final build in Mexico, or some urban area (read The Hood). It would be 1/4 of the price as Empeg. Last year I had a question about the price of HD's, and Empeg said the prices couldn't be cheaper in the US because they bought directly from Fujistu in Japan. What they don't realize is the US market is way different than the EU. US Hard Drive market is domminated by Seagate, IBM, Maxtor, and Western Digital. US companies. Asian hard drive makers practically dump drives in the US just to make get product through the door.
At any rate a large company like...Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. would be able to put together the hardware in bulk for a super cheap price.
Me personally, I would look to team up with the people who are testing the StrongArm (LART) based computers that run linux (similar to Empeg) and license the "technology" both to large companies, but to general public as a hobby.
In the spirit of OpenSource what I would like to see is someone take the work with LART, and perhaps create a module, or kit so to speak. A series of kits perhaps. The LART being a cheap PC, and a Car Kit that would connect to the LART and provide a user interface. I look at this as almost a computer. So why not make it modular so it can be upgraded.
If I remember correctly Apple was only able to defend IP in the US against Daewoo. The chance of them defending IP on grounds of look and feel in Taiwan was pretty slim. However, since e-machines was selling (fairly well at that) in the US they could persue them in US court.
I suspect that Apple pervailing on this case will depend on IP law is AU. And as long as they are not selling the cases in the US then Apple will have a disadvantage in the case.
One of my co-workers points out that with out patents there is no driving force for research. At least for the little guy. Joe Blow working out of his basement creates an invention, only to find that three months later megacorp is producing his product. Joe Blow gets screwed....Of cource my co-worker also thinks Microsoft deserves to have have it's Monopoly, so take it with a grain of salt.
I will point out that even in our current system the megacorp will always win. I've personally worked at smaller companies that have had valid patents that were infrindged on by very large companies. All that happens is a bunch of lawyers sit in a meeting room and basically say "Yeah, we're pissing on your Patents, but we've looked at your finacials and you do not have the backing to sue us. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."
When you are a large company and have lawyers on staff it isn't hard to wage a patent war. If you're a small company you will be sucked dry by the lawyers.
It doesn't matter if you scrap the current system or keep using it. Money speaks in judicial system.
I think Rambus has already seen the writing on the wall. Too little, too late. So what's the company left to do? Well I think it's obvious considering all the lawsuits they have filed.
I'm not an EE nor a patent lawyer so I cannot say if they have a legit claim. If they did win however, they will have some deep pockets to dip into.
The Star Wars films are a bit different than most films. Usually films are pretty much owned by Fox, Disney, Paramount, etc. Even if a smaller production company did the film the bucks usually came from the large studio. The film is now their bitch so to speak. In the case of Star Wars Lucas funded the movie privately. Fox own nothing of the franchise. It has distribution rights, and takes a small skim of the box office, but most of the money goes to Lucas. Do you think if Fox owned the rights to the movie on DVD that they would let Lucas sit on it that long? Hell no. They'd have a new edition come out ever other year and milk it for all it's worth. So, the whole question is how much will fox be involved. In the world of DVD's you could go to Image Entertainment and have them distribute. Besides, if you're going to ban any one company you should go after Dreamworks. They give more Softmoney to politics than any other studio. (Source: opensecrets.org)
I think it all comes down to control. Has crypto really changed things? Int he grand scheme of things no. People still want power. The reasons for wanting power are human nature. You could talk about original sin, corruptions, hell, this thread could be the basis for a four credit collage class.
Frankly, reading the article I kept on thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The part where Arthor says: "I am your King!" "Well I didn't vote for you!" "You don't vote for kings." "Well how'd you become king then?" "The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king!" "Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
As I understand it the purpose of Jon Katz is to add a "real" jouralist into the mix. In that spirit I think it would be nice to see dateline/20-20/60-minutes kung fu put on the whatever state board that is contracting Pinkerton.
I want to know what's going on in the heads of the public officials involved in this.
The London Science Museum is pretty kick ass as far as Museums go. They have a huge section devoted to old computers. Although more European Centric (or perhaps non-US centric) it covers some of the non-US computers that pre-date Univac.
I can only think of a couple science museums in the states that are on par with the quality and the size of the London Science Museum.
Katz is off on a couple things. Microsoft is still waging it's powers. It's just more subvert. Before they'd go to IBM and say you take Netscape off your image or you won't get any Windows 95.
Now, it's "Gee, the generic Java code you compiled under our development platform only works under windows? How did that happen?" or "Hmm, why don't you save your self the trouble and just use DCOM objects and ActiveX."
The jist of Jacksons decision is that Microsoft was willing to shoot itself in the foot in the short term in order to maintain a windows centric delevopment enviroment. Java has become one of those commie pink-o Computer Science languages. Most Comp Sci programs teach it. In fact many are replacing (rolls eyes) ADA with Java in the course.
So why start kicking sand at the other kids (Sun, Netscape, IBM) in the sandbox? Well, eventually someone is going to get a Network Computer working at a price consumers will gobble up.
Exactly what is Microsoft asking for when it says "we want the freedom to inovate"? Are they asking for freedom to come up with inovative technology? Or are they asking for freedom to come up with inovative ideas to crush the compedition with monopoly powers?
I don't know if I'm the only one with mixed reactions to this. On one hand it's nice to see a blessed player on the market, but at what cost?
Besides the fact that this is a binary for pay distro that probally won't work a couple kernel and library revisions down the line I'm more fearful of how this can damage the current MPAA cases.
The gov't case against Microsoft was hurt when Netscape was gobbled up by AOL. There's no question that the MPAA's next move will be to say "Hey there's Linux software now. There is no reason for anyone to have DeCSS. There is no reason for anyone to do any reverse engineering. Only hackers use DeCSS. And we all know hackers are Evil." And judging by the beating geeks have been taking in court I'm very fearful of the outcome.
"Dimension, a Herndon, Virginia-based computer consultant that Nortel Networks Corp. agreed to buy last month, tested 41,000 copies of Linux for a large telecommunications customer. The client, which Dimension wouldn't name, provides Internet access."
Hmm, Qwest just annouced they were entering into a hosting partnership with IBM. Opening many joint-venture web hosting centres in the US...
At the same time IBM also has a deal with a web site design firm in Minneapolis MN to make a large ammounts of web sites...
The plot thickens as they attempt to take over the world!
In england it doesn't just stop with ISP being responcible for usenet. Douglas Adams (Of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame) found himself in a spot because a christmas book he wrote. It seems that The Church of England can take you to court for Blastphamy.
The long and the short of it the law on the books was pretty clear cut. The book was pulled from circulation. He talked a bit about this at a book signing in the states in the early 90's.
Last time I checked the Playstation Emotion Engine running linux was the top Single CPU system in the Pov Ray benchmark tests. The Pov Ray basically renders the image to a file so you're looking at a benchmark of sheer CPU power.
This beat out Intel, Athlon, and Alpha Based systems. Usually the Alpha is considered the winner in gfx rendering. Titantic (A.K.A. Chicks version of Star Wars), used over 100 Alpha based machines running Linux to render the GFX.
This is a list of the people who've gotten cash from Jack Valenti (MPAA). The MPAA contributed 4000 this year, which is small when compaired to the studio's make the top soft money lists. Many of law makers listed are on the Judiciary Committee.
These are only for the 2000 elections. In the previous election he made over 32 donations.
Source: www.opensecrets.org
Valenti, Jack Washington, DC 20005 Motion Picture Association
01/29/1999 $1,000 Gore, Al
03/10/1999 $500 Frost, Martin
06/10/1999 $500 Watts, J C
09/07/1999 $250 Restore America PAC
03/01/1999 $500 Lofgren, Zoe
08/04/1999 $1,000 Hatch, Orrin G
08/17/1999 $1,000 Democratic Leader's Victory Fund 2000
This Mattel Flap and the DeCSS flap have my gears moving on why the geek elite are getting their butts kicked.
It seems to me that we are fighting large multi-national companies on their turf. Even worse it seems that national borders aren't very effective at stoping litigation.
I think this all steams from the fact that we are American centric on this issue. I wouldn't be suprised if the reason guys signed their soul to Mattel was because the ACLU didn't communicate with them.
More so, should the ACLU be in charge of this case? The A stands for American. Sure one of the guys was from Canada and that's pretty much the 51st state, but the other guy?
I think what this is comming down to is the geeks need an international legal/political organization.
The Folks down under and the Brits don't like to be confused with each other. A story I like to relate is of an Ausie manager presented with a Brit who has applied for a programming job at a US Company. The HR people are explaining to the Ausie all the goofy stuff you have to fill out and post on the company board when you give a high paying job to an alien. When they are done explaining the problems he says "That's not the problem...I'll tell you what the problem is...he's a f*cking Brit! They're lazy and if I see him slacking off I want him out the door!"
I think what has been lacking is a real scene that drives the need for tracking utils. North America (which slashdot is pretty centric too) has never been a huge hot bed of demo's and music. Sure, there were arists making some cool stuff here but the tracking/demo parties held in North America were never as big/good as the European counterpart.
That being said the main point it Linux is at the point where the hardware support can work well with tracking. Linux has a great potential and that isn't being tapped.
The biggest area is in the ALSA-Project. There is a fair amount of chatter around the new RME support. Another company which I think get's looked over but is already supported by ALSA are the Hoontech products. Hoontech makes some of the most unusual sound products I've seen. With the ability to expand Digital and Midi I/O and insanely cheap prices I think the poor mans (linux) mixing console is near.
Most utilities and many debt collections offer EFT, Check by Phone, and the ilk. Why would anyone need a service like this if the utility will do it for them? These services all seem so simple and offer the same features as using a credit card...or do they?
Credit Cards offer a degree of protection either via laws or Credit Card Company policies.
EFT does not. In fact in most cases you have no recourse. For example, for a credit card companies require serious credit checks to even obtain a merchant account. Payment are delayed in case of fraud, and a minium ammount of money must be left in the transfer account to cover refunds. With EFT there is no credit check. No special equiptment. In fact I can go down to Office Depot, pick up blank check stock, and print out checks if I have your routing and account numbers.
And you know what? You don't have any recourse. Sure, you can ask the police to track down the person for Check Fraud. If they have any assets maybe a few months later you can get a lean against thier bank. But for the most part once it's gone it's gone.
Credit cards and (in most states) debit cards have liability limits of 50 bucks. There will be some hassle but you know you're entire account won't get cleaned out.
But what about "honest" companies? Got a charged slammed on the phone bill? Guess what it's already been paid before you can dispute it. If they don't want to help you dispute it your only recourse is court.
People should get in the habbit of protecting check just like they protect the SSN or a credit card number.
The best solution is to have one of these companies pay your bills via a credit card. You just keep track of one single bill to pay each month.
Script Kiddies, Ruggies and the ilk, read no further. Alright, everyone else... Below is some of the contact info for NVidia. I suggest pointing out the following:
* You're an advid Linux User that supports OpenSource.
* That the Linux Effort at Nvidia could be done better if it were a collaberative Open effort involving Computer Professionals around the world.
* Other compeditors offer Open Solutions that you'd be more that happy to purchase.
* Binary Linux drivers do you no good when release of drivers is slow or (on older products) non-existant. Will there be a linux driver that works for your GeForce in 3 years???
* Be Polite
* To the point. Not too much tech. These are PR people.
Public Relations: Derek Perez 3535 Monroe Street Santa Clara, CA. 95051 Tel: (408) 615-2630 Fax: (408) 557-1200 E-mail: dperez@nvidia.com
Rich Black 3535 Monroe Street Santa Clara, CA. 95051 Tel: (408) 615-2772 Fax: (408) 557-1200 E-mail: rblack@nvidia.com
Investor Relations: Mary Ann Allencourt 3535 Monroe Street Santa Clara, CA 95051 Tel: (408) 615-2750 Fax: (408) 615-2777 E-mail: mallencourt@nvidia.com
Toys are a very cut throat market. The large american companies are constantly fending off their Japanesse counter parts in the everlasting quest to create the next Cabbage Patch doll. Because of this they are very customer centric. That's where the bottom line is.
At any rate putting presure on Mattel Interactive isn't going to help. They know you're not going to buy censorware any time soon. But, Mattel toys is another story. This is where the real money is.
I suggest you go to Mattels customer feed back site and fill out the e-mail form:
http://www.service.mattel.com/index.html
In it you probally want to state the following: You are boycotting all Mattel products because cyberpatrol, a division of Mattel Interactive, is engaging unethical censorship of web sites that are critical of the Cyber Patrol product for blocking sites that are legitimate, and being slow to correct the errors when they are brought to Mattel Interactives attention.
The moral and ethical implications of this raise questions about the company in general. If this is the type of practice they engage in how can we trust them to make safe toys?
Finally and MOST IMPORTANT: If Mattel is so willing to censor sites critical to cyber patrol how do we know they won't also censor sites that discuss toy safety?
REDHAT is never going to have the same level of support cert as Microsoft. The reason? Microsoft . They own a chunk of Sylvin-Prometic. With out a national testing system willing to give the Redhat test how can it work?
I don't think it would take that long to build up the number of trainers. But you need a place to give the tests.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not like companies don't get around this stuff all the time. It just takes a little more effort. You need to have a double blind. Basically doing the same thing that Compaq did with IBM's BIOS on the PC.
The first part is person to write a spec. This spec. should detail how you want something to work. "When the client does X the server should respond with Y". Etc. etc.
This person will have no other role. This person should not be associated with the developement of the MS extentions. Nor should he know any of the people who will be working on this.
His work should be handed to a third party who will deliver his spec to the developement team. Reverse engineering shall begin. It's a pain to do, but it is workable.
At any case there should be a nice stink made about this. I suggest that anyone who is a microsoft support customer contact your TAM or GTAM and let them know that this stinks.
I heard a several years ago that you had a x-mas book that was pulled because the Church or England threatened to sue the publisher for blasphemy. Apparently there is still a law on the books that allows for that. Is this true?
The problem with the UK empeg is that it's produced in the UK. It's not quality or anything like that it's price. I've been there, I've purchased there, and even without VAT the costs are higher. The software isn't the problem. It's putting it all together. In the US you could have the parts come in from Singapore and Japan and have final build in Mexico, or some urban area (read The Hood). It would be 1/4 of the price as Empeg. Last year I had a question about the price of HD's, and Empeg said the prices couldn't be cheaper in the US because they bought directly from Fujistu in Japan. What they don't realize is the US market is way different than the EU. US Hard Drive market is domminated by Seagate, IBM, Maxtor, and Western Digital. US companies. Asian hard drive makers practically dump drives in the US just to make get product through the door.
At any rate a large company like...Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. would be able to put together the hardware in bulk for a super cheap price.
Me personally, I would look to team up with the people who are testing the StrongArm (LART) based computers that run linux (similar to Empeg) and license the "technology" both to large companies, but to general public as a hobby.
In the spirit of OpenSource what I would like to see is someone take the work with LART, and perhaps create a module, or kit so to speak. A series of kits perhaps. The LART being a cheap PC, and a Car Kit that would connect to the LART and provide a user interface. I look at this as almost a computer. So why not make it modular so it can be upgraded.
Just my $.02
If I remember correctly Apple was only able to defend IP in the US against Daewoo. The chance of them defending IP on grounds of look and feel in Taiwan was pretty slim. However, since e-machines was selling (fairly well at that) in the US they could persue them in US court.
I suspect that Apple pervailing on this case will depend on IP law is AU. And as long as they are not selling the cases in the US then Apple will have a disadvantage in the case.
One of my co-workers points out that with out patents there is no driving force for research. At least for the little guy. Joe Blow working out of his basement creates an invention, only to find that three months later megacorp is producing his product. Joe Blow gets screwed. ...Of cource my co-worker also thinks Microsoft deserves to have have it's Monopoly, so take it with a grain of salt.
I will point out that even in our current system the megacorp will always win. I've personally worked at smaller companies that have had valid patents that were infrindged on by very large companies. All that happens is a bunch of lawyers sit in a meeting room and basically say "Yeah, we're pissing on your Patents, but we've looked at your finacials and you do not have the backing to sue us. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."
When you are a large company and have lawyers on staff it isn't hard to wage a patent war. If you're a small company you will be sucked dry by the lawyers.
It doesn't matter if you scrap the current system or keep using it. Money speaks in judicial system.
I think Rambus has already seen the writing on the wall. Too little, too late. So what's the company left to do? Well I think it's obvious considering all the lawsuits they have filed.
I'm not an EE nor a patent lawyer so I cannot say if they have a legit claim. If they did win however, they will have some deep pockets to dip into.
I wouldn't could them out. Not yet at least.
-- It ain't over till it's over.
The Star Wars films are a bit different than most films. Usually films are pretty much owned by Fox, Disney, Paramount, etc. Even if a smaller production company did the film the bucks usually came from the large studio. The film is now their bitch so to speak. In the case of Star Wars Lucas funded the movie privately. Fox own nothing of the franchise. It has distribution rights, and takes a small skim of the box office, but most of the money goes to Lucas. Do you think if Fox owned the rights to the movie on DVD that they would let Lucas sit on it that long? Hell no. They'd have a new edition come out ever other year and milk it for all it's worth. So, the whole question is how much will fox be involved. In the world of DVD's you could go to Image Entertainment and have them distribute. Besides, if you're going to ban any one company you should go after Dreamworks. They give more Softmoney to politics than any other studio. (Source: opensecrets.org)
I think it all comes down to control. Has crypto really changed things? Int he grand scheme of things no. People still want power. The reasons for wanting power are human nature. You could talk about original sin, corruptions, hell, this thread could be the basis for a four credit collage class.
Frankly, reading the article I kept on thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The part where Arthor says:
"I am your King!"
"Well I didn't vote for you!"
"You don't vote for kings."
"Well how'd you become king then?"
"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering silmite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king!"
"Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
As I understand it the purpose of Jon Katz is to add a "real" jouralist into the mix. In that spirit I think it would be nice to see dateline/20-20/60-minutes kung fu put on the whatever state board that is contracting Pinkerton.
I want to know what's going on in the heads of the public officials involved in this.
The London Science Museum is pretty kick ass as far as Museums go. They have a huge section devoted to old computers. Although more European Centric (or perhaps non-US centric) it covers some of the non-US computers that pre-date Univac.
I can only think of a couple science museums in the states that are on par with the quality and the size of the London Science Museum.
Katz is off on a couple things. Microsoft is still waging it's powers. It's just more subvert. Before they'd go to IBM and say you take Netscape off your image or you won't get any Windows 95.
Now, it's "Gee, the generic Java code you compiled under our development platform only works under windows? How did that happen?" or "Hmm, why don't you save your self the trouble and just use DCOM objects and ActiveX."
The jist of Jacksons decision is that Microsoft was willing to shoot itself in the foot in the short term in order to maintain a windows centric delevopment enviroment. Java has become one of those commie pink-o Computer Science languages. Most Comp Sci programs teach it. In fact many are replacing (rolls eyes) ADA with Java in the course.
So why start kicking sand at the other kids (Sun, Netscape, IBM) in the sandbox? Well, eventually someone is going to get a Network Computer working at a price consumers will gobble up.
Exactly what is Microsoft asking for when it says "we want the freedom to inovate"? Are they asking for freedom to come up with inovative technology? Or are they asking for freedom to come up with inovative ideas to crush the compedition with monopoly powers?
I don't know if I'm the only one with mixed reactions to this. On one hand it's nice to see a blessed player on the market, but at what cost?
Besides the fact that this is a binary for pay distro that probally won't work a couple kernel and library revisions down the line I'm more fearful of how this can damage the current MPAA cases.
The gov't case against Microsoft was hurt when Netscape was gobbled up by AOL. There's no question that the MPAA's next move will be to say "Hey there's Linux software now. There is no reason for anyone to have DeCSS. There is no reason for anyone to do any reverse engineering. Only hackers use DeCSS. And we all know hackers are Evil." And judging by the beating geeks have been taking in court I'm very fearful of the outcome.
"Dimension, a Herndon, Virginia-based computer consultant that Nortel Networks Corp. agreed to buy last month, tested 41,000 copies of Linux for a large telecommunications customer. The client, which Dimension wouldn't name, provides Internet access."
Hmm, Qwest just annouced they were entering into a hosting partnership with IBM. Opening many joint-venture web hosting centres in the US...
At the same time IBM also has a deal with a web site design firm in Minneapolis MN to make a large ammounts of web sites...
The plot thickens as they attempt to take over the world!
In england it doesn't just stop with ISP being responcible for usenet. Douglas Adams (Of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame) found himself in a spot because a christmas book he wrote. It seems that The Church of England can take you to court for Blastphamy.
The long and the short of it the law on the books was pretty clear cut. The book was pulled from circulation. He talked a bit about this at a book signing in the states in the early 90's.
Last time I checked the Playstation Emotion Engine running linux was the top Single CPU system in the Pov Ray benchmark tests. The Pov Ray basically renders the image to a file so you're looking at a benchmark of sheer CPU power.
This beat out Intel, Athlon, and Alpha Based systems. Usually the Alpha is considered the winner in gfx rendering. Titantic (A.K.A. Chicks version of Star Wars), used over 100 Alpha based machines running Linux to render the GFX.
This is a list of the people who've gotten cash from Jack Valenti (MPAA). The MPAA contributed 4000 this year, which is small when compaired to the studio's make the top soft money lists. Many of law makers listed are on the Judiciary Committee.
These are only for the 2000 elections. In the previous election he made over 32 donations.
Source: www.opensecrets.org
Valenti, Jack
Washington, DC 20005
Motion Picture Association
01/29/1999
$1,000
Gore, Al
03/10/1999
$500
Frost, Martin
06/10/1999
$500
Watts, J C
09/07/1999
$250
Restore America PAC
03/01/1999
$500
Lofgren, Zoe
08/04/1999
$1,000
Hatch, Orrin G
08/17/1999
$1,000
Democratic Leader's Victory Fund 2000
06/07/1999
$500
Casey, Patrick Raymond
03/10/1999
$500
Lone Star Fund
06/23/1999
$500
Clyburn, James E
10/07/1999
$1,000
Hyde, Henry J
10/07/1999
$1,000
Hyde, Henry J
05/26/1999
$1,000
Conyers, John Jr
09/14/1999
$1,000
Gore, Al
09/30/1999
$1,000
McCain, John
10/21/1999
$1,000
Bush, George W
This Mattel Flap and the DeCSS flap have my gears moving on why the geek elite are getting their butts kicked.
It seems to me that we are fighting large multi-national companies on their turf. Even worse it seems that national borders aren't very effective at stoping litigation.
I think this all steams from the fact that we are American centric on this issue. I wouldn't be suprised if the reason guys signed their soul to Mattel was because the ACLU didn't communicate with them.
More so, should the ACLU be in charge of this case? The A stands for American. Sure one of the guys was from Canada and that's pretty much the 51st state, but the other guy?
I think what this is comming down to is the geeks need an international legal/political organization.
Kind'a like the EFF but a lot larger.
The Folks down under and the Brits don't like to be confused with each other. A story I like to relate is of an Ausie manager presented with a Brit who has applied for a programming job at a US Company. The HR people are explaining to the Ausie all the goofy stuff you have to fill out and post on the company board when you give a high paying job to an alien. When they are done explaining the problems he says "That's not the problem...I'll tell you what the problem is...he's a f*cking Brit! They're lazy and if I see him slacking off I want him out the door!"
I think what has been lacking is a real scene that drives the need for tracking utils. North America (which slashdot is pretty centric too) has never been a huge hot bed of demo's and music. Sure, there were arists making some cool stuff here but the tracking/demo parties held in North America were never as big/good as the European counterpart.
That being said the main point it Linux is at the point where the hardware support can work well with tracking. Linux has a great potential and that isn't being tapped.
The biggest area is in the ALSA-Project. There is a fair amount of chatter around the new RME support. Another company which I think get's looked over but is already supported by ALSA are the Hoontech products. Hoontech makes some of the most unusual sound products I've seen. With the ability to expand Digital and Midi I/O and insanely cheap prices I think the poor mans (linux) mixing console is near.
Most utilities and many debt collections offer EFT, Check by Phone, and the ilk. Why would anyone need a service like this if the utility will do it for them? These services all seem so simple and offer the same features as using a credit card...or do they?
Credit Cards offer a degree of protection either via laws or Credit Card Company policies.
EFT does not. In fact in most cases you have no recourse. For example, for a credit card companies require serious credit checks to even obtain a merchant account. Payment are delayed in case of fraud, and a minium ammount of money must be left in the transfer account to cover refunds. With EFT there is no credit check. No special equiptment. In fact I can go down to Office Depot, pick up blank check stock, and print out checks if I have your routing and account numbers.
And you know what? You don't have any recourse. Sure, you can ask the police to track down the person for Check Fraud. If they have any assets maybe a few months later you can get a lean against thier bank. But for the most part once it's gone it's gone.
Credit cards and (in most states) debit cards have liability limits of 50 bucks. There will be some hassle but you know you're entire account won't get cleaned out.
But what about "honest" companies? Got a charged slammed on the phone bill? Guess what it's already been paid before you can dispute it. If they don't want to help you dispute it your only recourse is court.
People should get in the habbit of protecting check just like they protect the SSN or a credit card number.
The best solution is to have one of these companies pay your bills via a credit card. You just keep track of one single bill to pay each month.
Sony has recently released a second gen minidisc format. It stores 640 Megs (like a cd-rom) but keeps the small minidisc form factor.
It also has built in ethernet. For a camera it's pretty cool. Although the video capture is only crummy at best.
Sony has released a special Digital Camera that uses the format. (In the US even). Check it out at http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/mddiscam
Script Kiddies, Ruggies and the ilk, read no further. Alright, everyone else... Below is some of the contact info for NVidia. I suggest pointing out the following:
* You're an advid Linux User that supports OpenSource.
* That the Linux Effort at Nvidia could be done better if it were a collaberative Open effort involving Computer Professionals around the world.
* Other compeditors offer Open Solutions that you'd be more that happy to purchase.
* Binary Linux drivers do you no good when release of drivers is slow or (on older products) non-existant. Will there be a linux driver that works for your GeForce in 3 years???
* Be Polite
* To the point. Not too much tech. These are PR people.
Public Relations:
Derek Perez
3535 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, CA. 95051
Tel: (408) 615-2630
Fax: (408) 557-1200
E-mail: dperez@nvidia.com
Rich Black
3535 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, CA. 95051
Tel: (408) 615-2772
Fax: (408) 557-1200
E-mail: rblack@nvidia.com
Investor Relations:
Mary Ann Allencourt
3535 Monroe Street
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Tel: (408) 615-2750
Fax: (408) 615-2777
E-mail: mallencourt@nvidia.com
Toys are a very cut throat market. The large american companies are constantly fending off their Japanesse counter parts in the everlasting quest to create the next Cabbage Patch doll. Because of this they are very customer centric. That's where the bottom line is.
At any rate putting presure on Mattel Interactive isn't going to help. They know you're not going to buy censorware any time soon. But, Mattel toys is another story. This is where the real money is.
I suggest you go to Mattels customer feed back site and fill out the e-mail form:
http://www.service.mattel.com/index.html
In it you probally want to state the following:
You are boycotting all Mattel products because cyberpatrol, a division of Mattel Interactive, is engaging unethical censorship of web sites that are critical of the Cyber Patrol product for blocking sites that are legitimate, and being slow to correct the errors when they are brought to Mattel Interactives attention.
The moral and ethical implications of this raise questions about the company in general. If this is the type of practice they engage in how can we trust them to make safe toys?
Finally and MOST IMPORTANT: If Mattel is so willing to censor sites critical to cyber patrol how do we know they won't also censor sites that discuss toy safety?
test
REDHAT is never going to have the same level of support cert as Microsoft. The reason? Microsoft . They own a chunk of Sylvin-Prometic. With out a national testing system willing to give the Redhat test how can it work?
I don't think it would take that long to build up the number of trainers. But you need a place to give the tests.